Boat People
Ngoyen Phan Thuy booked a passage out of Vietnam with her mother, aunt and younger sister. After ten days at sea the boat was stranded and without food or water.
They were attacked by pirates, who shot her aunt. An old man's gold teeth were ripped out of his mouth with pliers and a woman's baby was thrown into the sea.
The survivors were made to strip and then landed on the beach and their boat was sunk. The women were lined up and Phan and a girl called Lien were selected and taken on board a fishing boat. Over the next three weeks both girls were repeatedly raped. Lien could not stand it and in the end the pirates could not stand her. She was thrown overboard.
Phan was sold. She became pregnant but the baby was aborted with a bamboo stick. Eventually she escaped and was handed over to the UN.
Boat people; illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who arrive in old or self-made boats.
The term "boat people" came into common use in the 1970s with the mass flight of Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War.
They often risk their lives on dangerous- and overcrowded boats, to escape oppression or poverty in their home nations.
One of the most dreadful occurences during the journey is the cruel piracy on high seas.
Four out of five boats encoutered sea plunderers.
Pirates often believed that the boat people were rich escapees with lots of gold and hidden vauables.
They attacked the helpless boat refugees with knives and hammers and at times guns.
Resistance against the pirates was sporadic because the majority of refugee crafts were not equipped with weapons.
The pirates vicious attacks did not stop at robbing valuables but extended to the raping and abduction of women.
Young girls were sexually assaulted in front of their parent.
Wives were raped while husbands were handcuffed.
The worst nightmare became a dreadful reality when the pirates kidnapped the helpless women.
From that point onward, the surviving refugees would have...
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